As it turns out, former Edmonton Oilers head coach Tom Renney wasn’t out of work for very long. As per Darren Dreger’s report above, the Detroit Red Wings have hired him on a three-year deal which will see him serve as Mike Babcock’s associate coach.

This sounds like a similar deal to the one taken by Renney with the Oilers organization. Back in the summer of 2009, it was Edmonton signing Renney to a three-year deal to be the associate coach to Pat Quinn. The difference, of course, is that Renney took the helm a year into his deal, whereas one would imagine that Mike Babcock is a little more secure in Detroit than Quinn was with the Oilers.

Renney's time in Edmonton was undoubtedly less successful than he would have liked, as he guided the team through successive rebuilding years on the heels of the disastrous 2009-10 season. Even so, his Oilers made big strides last season - particularly in the goal differnetial department - and Renney's major league resume remains fairly solid.

Occasionally criticized for a lack of passion, Renney always came across as a class act, and especially so in his departure from the organization this summer. It's nice to see him land with a quality organization - even if it is one that looks to have a few challenges next season.

Renney has worked previously with Babcock for Hockey Canada. Babcock was the head coach of the team that won gold at the World Championships in 2004; Renney served as his assistant. Renney is replacing Jeff Blashill from last year's staff; Blashill will coach Detroit's farm team in Grand Rapids.

Jonathan Willis is a freelance writer.
He currently works for Oilers Nation, Sportsnet, the Edmonton Journal and Bleacher Report.
He's co-written three books and worked for myriad websites, including Grantland, ESPN, The Score, and Hockey Prospectus. He was previously the founder and managing editor of Copper & Blue.

Detroit Red Wings
Accepting an assistant coaching position with the Red Wings on July 5, 2012, Renney is expected to be primarily responsible for the penalty kill. He is secretly planning to orchestrate a trade between the Wings and his former club in Edmonton which would send the Red Wings Shawn Horcoff, Ales Hemsky and Ryan Whitney in exchange for Brendan Smith.

Congratulations Tom. I hope that this stop works out well for you and you enjoy a return to playoff hockey in 2012-13.

As an aside, I remember when the Oilers played a split squad game in Saskatoon in September 2011 against Chicago and Tom was on the bench prior to warmup signing every autograph that was asked of him. Class act all the way. That was also the game where Ryan Smyth threw about 10 pucks into the stands during the warmup to the kids in the lower deck.

Fans ran Renney out of town. I remember people saying Renney has to go. Now that he's gone, the Oilers are getting bashed again. What else is new?

The oilers will continue to get bashed until we land our star Defenceman and Goaltender. We have a few in the pipes, but probably still a year or two away. The only upside to the coaching change is now maybe we will see some toughness and retaliation for running the kids. Too often un the past two years did we see no toughness when the kids got run over, and if we did, it was from Smid or Gagner.

Personally I still think we made the right decision in letting Tom go in favor of Ralph but I think a lot of the developmental things that Renney did for the young players will help this team greatly going forward.

It's just that most rebuilds are done in phases and more often then not when a team wants to take it to the next level they look to a new voice to bring in these changes. Chicago, Washington and Pittsburgh all went through multiple coaches in their successful rebuilds.

Tom Renney more then anything was just another victim of the proven rebuild formula. Really though I can't think of a more perfect situation for Renney then being second in command of the Redwings bench. The Wings do have some new challenges ahead of them but this hire should help ease some of those obstacles.

Best of luck Tom & thanks for doing a great, yet under appreciated job here with this young team.

I was and still am a fan of Tom Renney.However, the more I listen to interviews of Kreuger,Hordichuk,Smyth etc, I think Renney would have been the wrong fit going forward. 2 months into the season, we would have been complaining about icetime as the young players and physical guys would be playing less than our veterans. It is time to sink or swim and have the youth core put their name on this team. If they get pushed around, Hordy and Eager should given a green light to do something about it even if it means killing a minor or major penalty.
Now if the kids flourish this year, Renney should get credit for how he sheltered them the last 2 years.However, it is time to unleash them and I believe Kreuger will do that.

Glad for Renney who deserves a good position, but it reminds of how annoying I found it that all the media was up in arms about how mistreated they felt Renney was by Edmonton for delaying their decision.

From what I understand, he was given more than a notice on his way out (taken care of quite nicely actually) by the Oilers and as you can see it wasn't hard for him to land a new job.

The Oilers were well within their rights to make what they felt was the right decision. Detroit has done so now by hiring Renney. Time lines are irrelevant if done within the boundaries of a contract. Good people will always find work.

Renney was not run out of town by the fans. I think the most of us had his back and were certainly up for another year, but ultimately management decided to change the face of things. This happens all the time in any profession.

Don't feel bad for Tom. He saw his contract out and so did the Oilers. It could have gone another way.

Good for Renney. Hopefully Ralph Kreuger is the right fit here and everybody is better off.
Good luck Tom. Clearly your head rolled (okay you caught the coaching equivalent of leprosy) to save Tamby's ass.